S01.E06: John, Chapter 11

[Drogo]

When a gruesome discovery is made, the Getty family fear the worst.

[PipPop]

I loved this episode. Hilary Swank was terrific as Gail, both when she was grieving her son's death, and then displaying her anger when she found out that Getty III was still alive. Easy to see why this woman won two Oscars. Fabulous performance.  I was certainly not expecting to see Donald Sutherland 'putting on the Ritz' but that was a delight. This episode added so much more nuance to Getty I, who turns out to be not the black and white villain he'd seemed until now. I still think Getty I is a cruel old man, but he's still human and still grieved his 'dead' grandson and then gloried in being the smartest man in the situation and flying off to Rome to (supposedly) put an end to all this kidnapping nonsense. 

And as for my favorite character: Bullimore-Voldemort-Jahangir Khan... at least now we know why Silas Carson's character was listed as "Khan" in IMDb when the show debuted. I note with some intense amusement that now that the character's real name of Khan has been revealed, he is being listed as Bullimore on IMDb. Hahaha! Whoever is tending to the Trust entry on IMDb has a sly sense of humor. 

Anyway, I was so touched when Getty I complimented Bullimore and gave him the day off. He was having such a good time with his bf Dennis until auntie scared him off with talk of the two guys sharing a mattress. Too soon, auntie! Bullimore needs to be wooed with more gin fizz and groovy dancing dates first. 

Edited April 30, 2018 by PipPop

[larapu2000]

I think my favorite moment was when Chace showed the Italians he wasn't packing heat.  Just a motherf***ing helicopter.  LOL

[ElectricBoogaloo]

2 hours ago, PipPop said:

I was so touched when Getty I complimented Bullimore and gave him the day off.

Which was quickly followed by "before you leave, pack my suitcase!"

Is it weird that the person who I feel the most sorry for and like the most is Bullimore Voldemort Jahangir? I just want him to be happy and appreciated!

I did it find it somewhat hilarious that JP1's "everything is about business" attitude meant shaking the hand of the man who was trying to get $17 million for his kidnapped grandson before going on a stroll for some polite conversation.

[PipPop]

2 hours ago, larapu2000 said:

I think my favorite moment was when Chace showed the Italians he wasn't packing heat.  Just a motherf***ing helicopter.  LOL

That was splendid. “We used these in Vietnam, too.” LOL.   I liked when he hustled the hooker out of his room when Gail showed up to announce that Paul III was still alive. I didn’t catch what the woman said to him, but his reply about recognizing that much in French was quite funny. I really like this character.  It’s a great role for Brendan Fraser to display how subtly funny he can be.

[Dirtybubble]

32 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

I am a bit confused.  I thought Bullimore was involved with the oldest woman, the one that is also involved with JP1?  I can't keep track of all of the women by name.

No I thought that was one of his sons she was involved with...IDK it hasn't really been mentioned since episode 3

[PipPop]

35 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

I would be shocked if anyone in the viewing audience thought that the grandson was dead.  As for that big dude that discovered the body, given his size and the fact that he smokes, I was surprised that he could swim that far.  Some shark missed out on one heck of a meal.

JP1 is correct, his son needs to come up with the money, and yes JP1 did the hard part in negotiating.

That said, JP1 was awfully cruel to the woman that got knocked up.  Just get rid of it?  Just horrible.  How about getting yourself fixed?

 

I like that part as well.  I was just hoping that Chace would have gotten out of the way and that the helicopter would have taken care of business.  That would have scared the old dude into coughing up the grandson without money changing hands.

I am a bit confused.  I thought Bullimore was involved with the oldest woman, the one that is also involved with JP1?  I can't keep track of all of the women by name.

Bullimore isn’t involved with any of the women in Getty I’s haram. From the way that Dennis has been flirting with him, Dennis has picked up on the fact that Bullimore is gay. Now, whether Bullimore himself is open about it or deeply closeted is another matter. He was clearly freaked out by even the suggestion of a physical relationship with Dennis. 

[MrsMoltisanti]

Is it just me, or do you tune out in a daze with most of the parts that contain the Getty grandson?  I find I perk right up with the scenes containing the investigator, the Getty mansion, or even the mom.  I could have totally skipped over last week's episode until the end.  This week is just a lot of this kid who I don't even feel sorry for anymore and I find myself checking my phone, getting a snack etc.  The minute we see a cowboy investigator laying on a rock, I am tuned in.  More is said in his body language even then with the whole tormented grandson.  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

5 hours ago, PipPop said:

I didn’t catch what the woman said to him, but his reply about recognizing that much in French was quite funny. 

She said, “Vaffanculo,” which is Italian for fuck you/fuck off.

[helenamonster]

I thought they made an interesting parallel this episode between JP1 and JP3 regarding their privilege and rejection of responsibility. When JP3 was presumed dead, it was pretty easy to blame a lot of it on JP1 (even though this whole thing was JP3's idea in the first place; you really didn't have to bail out your shitty friends, dude!). Offering $600 (plus expenses...really loosening the purse strings there) made JP3 wayyyy more trouble than he was worth and if the kidnappers had just cut their losses it wouldn't have been much of a shock.

Meanwhile, JP3 had to have it explained to him that his whole harebrained scheme--and then his decision to cut and run when he wasn't having fun anymore--got Angelo killed. He doesn't seem to have any idea what he's putting people through with this. I don't advocate for violence against children but when he reunites with Gail I wouldn't blame her if she smacked him clean across the face.

Chase is still amazing. Just casually radioing a helicopter. This whole situation is completely bananas but he's going through it like it's any old day at the office.

Noooo Voldemort, embrace who you are! Run off with Dennis, be free be free!

Aw man, I thought I was totally offbase with my guess that Belinda was preggers but nope! And ugh JP1 can just FOAD already. Ladies, I realize that this lifestyle provides you with stability and comfort, but wouldn't you rather be poor and in charge of your life than sleeping with a guy old enough to be your dad who dictates when you get abortions?

[Dowel Jones]

Did anyone else think of Peter Boyle from Young Frankenstein when Sutherland was doing his 'Puttin' on the Ritz' dance?

[Dirtybubble]

19 hours ago, MrsMoltisanti said:

Is it just me, or do you tune out in a daze with most of the parts that contain the Getty grandson?  I find I perk right up with the scenes containing the investigator, the Getty mansion, or even the mom.  I could have totally skipped over last week's episode until the end.  This week is just a lot of this kid who I don't even feel sorry for anymore and I find myself checking my phone, getting a snack etc.  The minute we see a cowboy investigator laying on a rock, I am tuned in.  More is said in his body language even then with the whole tormented grandson.  

THIS and

 

14 hours ago, helenamonster said:

Meanwhile, JP3 had to have it explained to him that his whole harebrained scheme--and then his decision to cut and run when he wasn't having fun anymore--got Angelo killed. He doesn't seem to have any idea what he's putting people through with this. I don't advocate for violence against children but when he reunites with Gail I wouldn't blame her if she smacked him clean across the face.

THIS is why I don't like JP3.  I did feel sympathy during last week's episode but IDK I just have trouble rooting for this guy when makes such dumb mistakes.  And I agree with the previous poster I look forward to ALL the other characters on the screen and not so much the main character...pity.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

23 minutes ago, Dirtybubble said:

I did feel sympathy during last week's episode but IDK I just have trouble rooting for this guy when makes such dumb mistakes. 

The most sympathy I had for JP3 was when he found out that his "friend" had been running up debts and saying that JP3 would pay for everything. It's fucked up for someone to do that, but it somehow seemed even worse because JP3 thought that they were friends and the other guy was just using him. I genuinely felt bad for him during that episode, but his utter cluelessness this week as the mafia guy was explaining to him point by point how it was JP3's fault that Antonio and the old man were killed had me shaking his head.

Okay, I just remembered that I had a moment of sympathy for JP3 in this episode too. It was during the flashback when we saw his mom's boyfriend bully him and the slap him. Adding insult to injury was his mom just standing there doing nothing about it. I feel bad for any kid who is stuck in an abusive situation. It made me understand even more why he left home and was living in that crappy apartment with the girls.

Despite that, I still need him to understand the repercussions of his choices and take some responsibility for the way that things have turned out instead of acting like the innocent victim.

[smartymarty]

I found the "JP3, you're responsible for those deaths" speech laughable. No, Mr. Mafia Accountant, the mafia is responsible for those deaths. You're responsible for JP3's kidnapping, and his reasonable desire to escape. It is not JP3's fault in the least.

I thought the oldest of the "harem" was JP1's actual wife. The rest are just mistresses. She is having an affair with the man she was flying in an airplane with in an earlier episode. At that time, I thought he was also the gardener, but that's incorrect, but I thought we'd seen him on the estate in some role. Not important enough to go back.

I've hated JP3's mother through most of this for various reasons, but one being her throwing out a man who seemed to be the reasoned one in the couple, suggesting that JP3 work for some money. But now that they've shown him shoving JP3 around merely for clowning around in a skirt, I'll have to re-evaluate.

Enjoyed the helicopter stunt. But (1) wouldn't Mafia Father have heard that, too, since he and JP1 were on site? and (2) what the eff did the Cowboys football game have to do with the Vietnam half of his story?

[ozzy]

WHAT WAS THAT CAGE THING ON JPG S HEAD IN THE BEGINNING? That was a Hannible Lecter Moment!

What was it? 

[Dowel Jones]

Normally it would be a brace for a neck injury.  It basically keeps the head from moving in any direction, allowing the cervical spine to recover.  They didn't explain how he got that way, though.  As Getty is portrayed though, he probably had a sore neck in the morning and ordered up the extreme treatment.

The helicopter stunt, although impressive, was rather pointless if the mob guys knew anything about them.  The delay in signalling for the copter would allow them to take cover at any time, and besides, there would be even further delay unless the ship was sitting on the ground burning fuel so it could stay on the ready.  But it was impressive.  Either the Cowboys game was the reference point by which Chace remembers the incident, or it was just another director's artsy film ploy.  Been quite a bit of that so far.

[ozzy]

On 4/30/2018 at 5:24 PM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

She said, “Vaffanculo,” which is Italian for fuck you/fuck off.

he was all..I UNDERSTAND THAT MUCH FRENCH

21 hours ago, helenamonster said:

I thought they made an interesting parallel this episode between JP1 and JP3 regarding their privilege and rejection of responsibility. When JP3 was presumed dead, it was pretty easy to blame a lot of it on JP1 (even though this whole thing was JP3's idea in the first place; you really didn't have to bail out your shitty friends, dude!). Offering $600 (plus expenses...really loosening the purse strings there) made JP3 wayyyy more trouble than he was worth and if the kidnappers had just cut their losses it wouldn't have been much of a shock.

Meanwhile, JP3 had to have it explained to him that his whole harebrained scheme--and then his decision to cut and run when he wasn't having fun anymore--got Angelo killed. He doesn't seem to have any idea what he's putting people through with this. I don't advocate for violence against children but when he reunites with Gail I wouldn't blame her if she smacked him clean across the face.

Chase is still amazing. Just casually radioing a helicopter. This whole situation is completely bananas but he's going through it like it's any old day at the office.

Noooo Voldemort, embrace who you are! Run off with Dennis, be free be free!

Aw man, I thought I was totally offbase with my guess that Belinda was preggers but nope! And ugh JP1 can just FOAD already. Ladies, I realize that this lifestyle provides you with stability and comfort, but wouldn't you rather be poor and in charge of your life than sleeping with a guy old enough to be your dad who dictates when you get abortions?

WHAT IS FOAD

[Dowel Jones]

Basically the same as Vaffanculo, with the admonition "and die".

[helenamonster]

5 hours ago, ozzy said:

WHAT WAS THAT CAGE THING ON JPG S HEAD IN THE BEGINNING? That was a Hannible Lecter Moment!

What was it? 

Couldn't say exactly what it was, but he was getting measured for his Madame Tussauds wax figure during the scene so it probably had something to do with that.

3 hours ago, ozzy said:

WHAT IS FOAD

Fuck Off And Die

[grisgris]

How many more weeks are left of this? I am getting bored and confused. I am tired of all the Italian/English subtitles.

I think JP3 is a brat and JP1 is an asshole, although I like Donald Sutherland.  Nice to see Hilary Swank. Is there any explanation as to why she hacked off her hair in the prior week's episode?

I just think this whole story has been mishandled. Yeah. It is like the director is trying to make an art film.

So will his ear get cut off in the next episode?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

15 hours ago, smartymarty said:

I thought the oldest of the "harem" was JP1's actual wife. The rest are just mistresses.

No, they're all mistresses, including pregnant Penelope (he allegedly asked her to marry him several times and she turned him down every time). JP1's fifth and final wife (Louise/Teddy) was married to him 1939-1958, which was by far his longest marriage (the previous four marriages each lasted 2-4 years). Louise/Teddy was also his oldest wife - they married when she was 26 (his first three wives were 17 when they met/began dating/got married/got pregnant, he met his fourth wife when she was 14 but didn't officially begin dating her until she was 21). JP1 was unmarried when JP3 was kidnapped.

The story that JP2 told in this episode about how JP2 wouldn't go visit his other son (Timmy) who then died without ever seeing him again was the only child of JP1 & Louise/Teddy. Timmy had a brain tumor and according to Louise/Teddy, JP1 complained that she was spending too much money on his medical treatment.

There's an article in the Fact vs Fiction thread about who JP1 left money to in his will. Louise/Teddy was the only ex-wife to get any money from his will ($55K/year for the rest of her life - she just died last year so she got that money for 40 years!). Penelope was the non-wife who received the most from his will (5,000 Getty oil shares valued at $826,500 plus $1,167/month for life). Robina received $209/month for life.

Edited May 2, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Nessie]

9 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

There's an article in the Fact vs Fiction thread about who JP1 left money to in his will. Louise/Teddy was the only ex-wife to get any money from his will ($55K/year for the rest of her life - she just died last year so she got that money for 40 years!). Penelope was the non-wife who received the most from his will (5,000 Getty oil shares valued at $826,500 plus $1,167/month for life). Robina received $209/month for life.

Wow...try not to go TOO wild, ladies...

Hillary Swank was the MVP of this ep for me.  I felt every bit of her heartbreak when she thought her 16 year old son was dead at the hands of those animals, when his grandfather could have prevented it (the flashbacks to when he was a baby and small child helped sell it, too).  And then her relief when she realized it wasn't him, then her anger...I've never been a big fan of hers, but she was terrific here.

[PipPop]

On 5/1/2018 at 2:35 PM, smartymarty said:

I thought the oldest of the "harem" was JP1's actual wife. The rest are just mistresses. She is having an affair with the man she was flying in an airplane with in an earlier episode. At that time, I thought he was also the gardener, but that's incorrect, but I thought we'd seen him on the estate in some role. Not important enough to go back.

I don't think that Getty I is married to any of the women. They're all his mistresses. He favors the eldest one (Penelope) because she has the most class and is the smartest, so he can actually have a conversation with her. From what I understand about the real life situation, this woman actually refused to marry him or be his mistress. She was the only one of the women that Getty didn't sleep with. He kept her around because he enjoyed her personality and mind. The guy she steps out to see is her actual boyfriend. It makes Getty jealous.

I was thinking about Getty I's comments to the sculptor and later to the Mafia don that he regards himself to be the reincarnation of the Emperor Hadrian. The real Getty I actually did think this. I find that a really fascinating insight into his mind and his self-image.  Hadrian was a good emperor who was rich and built many things (like Getty), but like all emperors he was considered to be a god. That made him separate from all other 'mere' mortals. The scene where Getty I negotiated the ransom deal with the Mafia don was set in the ruins of Hadrian's palace (I believe). There he was, thinking that he's so exalted, but standing in the ruins of his (supposed) prior incarnation. He seemed to miss the point when the Mafia don urged him not to let his business empire fall into ruin by cutting off his own heirs, but Getty I seemed to miss that point, too.  He was so pleased with himself for what he saw as a business victory, but it was so hollow. 

[tennisgurl]

"We had those in Vietnam too". God, this is the best role Brendon Fraiser has had in years. He is somehow both hammy, but also very understated. 

I really felt for Gail throughout the episode, and I felt her pain when she thought Paul was dead, and then her anger when she realized she was being jerked around. And that this meant they had killed some other poor kid. However, it was also sad to see how she hardly seemed to think about her other kids until the end. Yeah, I cant imagine how horrible she felt, but she literally didnt even seem to think about them until Chase mentioned them. Chase seemed more concerned about the other kids then she was! And her sitting their allowing her boyfriend to scream at Paul and smack him around made me definitely raise an eyebrow. 

Oh Bullimore, go with gardener guy! He was having so much fun too. Sassy aunt just jumped too fast, he clearly needs to go very slowly into this, even though you can tell its something he totally wants. And he was so happy about his one day off too. 

His speech to the gardener was an interesting one compared to Chases store about the machine gunner to Vietnam. while Bullimore seems pissed at how the rich treat people, Chase just seems resigned to it. 

Getty Senior really was all over the place this episode. Showing some humanity when he mourned his dead grandson, to dancing around in victory when he realized he was right, to coldly telling one of his girlfriends to get rid of their unborn child, to calmly chatting with a mob boss about his grandsons ransom. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 5/2/2018 at 3:12 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

There's an article in the Fact vs Fiction thread about who JP1 left money to in his will. Louise/Teddy was the only ex-wife to get any money from his will ($55K/year for the rest of her life - she just died last year so she got that money for 40 years!). Penelope was the non-wife who received the most from his will (5,000 Getty oil shares valued at $826,500 plus $1,167/month for life). Robina received $209/month for life.

 

On 5/2/2018 at 1:06 PM, Nessie said:

Wow...try not to go TOO wild, ladies...

And just to put things into perspective, the minimum wage in the United States was $2.30 in 1976 (the year that JP1 died), so a person working full time (40 hours per week) at minimum wage would earn $4784 for the entire year. In comparison, through JP1's will, Penelope was receiving $14,004 per year and Robina was receiving $2508/year. If I recall correctly, Penelope and Robina were already well off so they probably didn't really need the money.